This invention relates to an integrated system and process for improving the performance of internal combustion engines. Combustion efficiency is increased and exhaust emissions are reduced by the combined effects of: (1) introducing an acetone-based fuel additive in the fuel tank. (2) pre-heating and polarizing the fuel, and (3) mixing a plasma of ionized hydrogen and oxygen with the intake air. This integrated system and process produces synergistic fuel additives with superior combustion characteristics.
With respect to the first component of the present invention, the use of acetone-based fuel additives to improve fuel efficiency is known in the prior art. One example of such a fuel additive is disclosed in Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,742. Acetone acts as a surfactant with respect to gasoline, reducing the surface tension of the liquid fuel so that it forms finer droplets that vaporize more readily. In the Smith patent disclosure, as in the present invention, acetone is mixed with xylene, the latter being an aromatic hydrocarbon which boosts the fuel's octane rating.
The acetone-based fuel additive component of the present invention differs from those disclosed in the prior art because it is formulated specifically to work in concert with the other two components of this invention. The composition of the additive and the ratio of its fuel mixture are optimized to complement the other fuel enhancement features of this invention.
With respect to the second component of this invention, a number of fuel preheaters are disclosed in the prior art, including Zabenskie, U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,567; Laramee, U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,533; Favreau et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,841,943; Ray, U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,137; Huang, U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,555; and Lambert, Sr., et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,451. These preheaters operate on the basis of a heat-exchange process between the fuel and hot-water side of the engine cooling system, as does the present invention. The prior art fuel preheaters in some instances produce a super-heated fuel (e.g., Favreau, et al.) and in other instances a vaporized fuel (e.g., Lambert, Sr., et al.). But none of the prior art devices produce a polarized preheated fuel, as does the present invention. The effect of the second component of the present invention is not only to preheat the fuel, but also to polarize the fuel's covalent hydrocarbon bonds, thereby rendering the hydrocarbon molecules more rapidly and completely combustible.
With respect to the third component of this invention, the prior art encompasses several devices for generating gaseous hydrogen-oxygen mixtures to be mixed with fuel prior to combustion. Examples are Ross, U.S. Pat. No. 7,143,722, Larocque, U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,648 and DeSouza, Pub. No. U.S. 2001/0003276. These devices all use an electrolysis cell to electrolyze water into hydrogen and oxygen.
In the electrolysis process, positively-charged hydrogen ions are generated at the cathode, while negatively charged oxygen ions are generated at the anode. In the prior art electrolysis devices, however, no effort is made to retain the ionized state of the generated gases, which simply revert to molecular hydrogen H2 and oxygen O2. Consequently, these devices fail to take advantage of the superior combustion characteristics of an ionized hydrogen-oxygen mixture.
In the present invention, on the other hand, the ionized H+/O− plasma is not mixed with the fuel, but instead it is drawn from an electrolysis cell directly into the engine's air intake manifold by a Venturi injector. Consequently, the gaseous hydrogen and oxygen remain in an ionized state when they mix with the atomized fuel at the fuel injection ports. Since the fuel itself has already been polarized by the second component of this invention, moreover, the resulting air-fuel mixture is a highly combustible blend of ionized hydrogen-oxygen plasma and enhanced, pre-heated polarized fuel.
Consequently, the present invention presents a unique combination of synergistic fuel additives, fuel pre-heating, fuel polarization, and ionized hydrogen-oxygen injection. The overall result is an ionized gaseous plasma containing enhanced fuel which, when introduced into the engine's cylinders, combusts within optimum efficiency, both maximizing energy recovery and minimizing polluting residuals.